FallOut Verse- Young Volcanoes
by BadWolfReborn
Summary: It's not the first time people they've met have been killed, but it's the first time a kid runs in front of a bullet to protect Rose. 10/Rose, first in a series.


**Fall Out Verse: Young volcanoes. **

**#1 of the Fall Out Verse.**

On Xeophylis Minor the Third, she sees a child die. It's not the first time people they've met have been killed, but it's the first time a kid runs in front of a bullet to protect Rose.

They'd arrived three years later than he'd meant to take them (again), meaning that instead of the year long harvesting festival- when the skies turned cool pink and the leaves fell down in shades of gold and silver- they'd fallen into the middle of a literal bloodbath, where couples killed neighbours and friendships were just another type of death trap. A girl named Reehandra had found them and led them to an underground bunker, where the injured and dying lay to avoid being shot by someone they once called friends.

"What caused all this?" Rose whispered, helping wrap a torn strip from her shirt around a strangers arm to try and slow the bleeding that would only kill him anyway.

The Doctor shrugged, not having the heart to tell her that humans had invaded at the end of the festival, destroyed what they hadn't wanted, and then left, leaving those who survived to fight for whatever little remained.

However often he might actually do it, he didn't intentionally set out to break her heart.

#

It was midnight, and Rose had refused to sleep until she had helped as many of the aliens she could, so she was practically dead on her feet. The Doctor was leading her to a small alcove, where he insisted she napped for half an hour.

"Come on," he whispered to her as the others slept fitfully around them. "You can't help like this. You're exhausted."

He waited until she drifted off, before crawling in next to her, holding her close against his cooler form. When he'd invited her on board the TARDIS- not once, but three times- he'd never meant for her to see this. Soldiers like him could deal with stuff like this, but not Rose.

She was too good for any of this.

#

He thinks he might have drifted off, too, because the next time he opens his eyes, Rose is curled into him in a way that will fuel his fantasies for months to come, the sun is almost breaking the horizon, and Reehandra- the girl who'd brought them here the day before- is holding onto Rose as they slept, another orphan of another war claiming the first kind figure as Home.

Slipping away from Rose's back regretfully, the Doctor stretched, before planning his day. He'd get Rose back to the TARDIS for her own safety, tell the people here to stay quiet until he was back, and then go sort out the mess the humans had created.

What he'd forgotten, of course, was two things: a) War is never that easy and b) Rose would never leave him.

#

"I'm not leaving you," she promised, gripping his hand tighter than usual. "If you're going, so am I."

#

The second part of his plan seemed to work, at least. The small group of natives promised to stay in the bunker quietly until he could get them something- a ceasefire, negotiations, extra medical equipment- _anything_ to stop that broken look in Rose's eyes as she looked at them.

Reehandra ran and clung to Rose, refusing to let her go, and not even the Doctor could hear what she whispered into Rose's ear.

#

"_Please don't go,"_ Reehandra whispered to Rose_. "You say you'll come back, but you won't. People I need never do." _

#

They were just about to leave. Someone had peeled the girl off Rose, and the injured were stable for the time being. Hopefully they could all last a few extra hours, until the two off-worlders (one Time Lord Survivor and the only kind human they'd ever met) could get them some provisions.

Then the ground shook, and the ambush began.

#

Bullets ripped through the air, and the Doctor lost Rose in the stampede of people running as well as they could on crippled legs and stumped feet. Everyone seemed to be heading away from the entrance, away from the soldiers with guns who obviously didn't care that these people couldn't defend a stick, never mind themselves.

"Rose!" He screamed around the bunker, hopping on his toes until he spotted a blotch of pink and yellow. Running towards it, he stopped as it moved again.

_There_.

And again.

_There_.

And again.

#

When he caught up to her- _oh thank __**Rassilion**__ he caught up to her_- of course she was shouting at the soldiers.

Big, violent soldiers with big, violent guns.

And of course she'd be stood in front of an old man who couldn't stand himself, using her body as a shield as one of the soldiers shouted at her.

"Move, creature," it snarled, pointing it's gun straight at Rose and _didn't even feel himself run all he knew was that he had to stop it had to save Rose_ "Before we have to deal with you, too."

Rose shook her head defiantly as the old man trembled behind her.

He would never reach her in time, but someone else would.

#

Reehandra pushed Rose out of the way, a surprisingly strong shove from such a malnourished child, and Rose fell onto her back.

She never saw the bullets pierce the girl's skin, and for that, she was grateful.

Grasping the girl's body and even through all the _oh God they'd killed the man too, who could just's_ she registered two things: the way Reehandra grabbed her hand as she closed her eyes, smiling softly, and how someone shouted her name like their lives depended it.

#

"She smiled." Rose whispered as they collapsed back into the TARDIS, one hour and a massacre later. "When she died, she was smiling."

The Doctor reached for her, and then stopped. Nothing he'd say could ever be enough now.

**/Fin/ **


End file.
